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He Gave His Only Son

"Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

John 21:29

• There should be less talk. A preaching point is not a meeting point.


• The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved-- they are Jesus in disguise.


• In the West there is loneliness, which I call the leprosy of the West. In many ways it is worse than our poor in Calcutta. (Commonweal, Dec 19, 1997)


• It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.


• The poor give us much more than we give them. They're such strong people, living day to day with no food. and they never curse, never complain. We don't have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them.


• I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?


• I do not pray for success. I ask for faithfulness.


• Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.


• If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

~Mother Teresa~

Now if we were to ask a similar question like that of God the answer would be simple. “I gave you my only son so that you would be saved.”

He gave his only son, to us, who were and still are sinners. That’s a lot to give. As if he hadn’t already done enough for us, he felt it was necessary to sacrifice his own son so that we might be joined with him for eternity, sharing his grace and endless love.

When Christ grew into a man and became aware of his mission on this earth, did he refuse the wishes of his father? No! Instead he gave his love, his healing, his wisdom, his forgiveness and finally his life. All for me, all for you and for what?

How do we thank him for such a sacrifice? Do we simply take what he has given us for granted or do we accept it graciously and admit that we need him? Or do we continue on with life thinking we can do it on our own and we don’t need that sacrifice, that we don’t need his gift of forgiveness and love.

Do we ignore him when he simply wants us to reach out and do something that would show to others the mercy and kindness of his love. Do we ignore him when he asks that we stay with him and rest, spend a few more minutes in prayer with him?

What are you being called to do? Are you listening to what he asks of you? If not, ask yourself why? Or do you commit to something that he’s asked you to do and then back out for one reason or another? Again, ask yourself why? After all, Christ had every opportunity in the world to back out of his commitment to give himself to us as God’s sacrifice of love. But he didn’t. So why should we feel that we are above Christ? What gives us the right, especially as sinners, to think that we should deny him his requests?

So take the time, evaluate yourself and your priorities and ask yourself, “What do I give?” Do I help his church in anyway? Do I devote time to worthy causes? Do I pray every day, even on a busy day, do I devote even 5 minutes of prayer? Do I shine with the love of Christ when I meet a stranger, or do I just dully move on past? Or do I just simply go to church, put some money in a basket and walk away?

Lent is a time for reflection, what better time then to reflect upon…..

What do I give? How do I thank him for all he’s done?

URLVD

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